Twenty people, mostly children and women, are feared dead when their boat capsized along Andoni-Bonny coastal waters in Rivers on Tuesday.

Governor Siminalayi Fubara described the incident as unfortunate.

In a statement, the governor commiserated with the affected families of the dead and, indeed, all the victims of the boat mishap.

Mr Fubara assured that his administration would continue to work to ensure that travelling on the sea routes becomes safer for travellers and riverine community dwellers.

“I commiserate and condole with families of the victims of the boat accident that led to the loss of lives and near death experienced by our brothers and sisters that were involved in the boat mishap.

“It is indeed a very unfortunate and sad incident and we pray that, God shall give all of them the strength to bear the loss and speedy recovery to those who survived.

“As a government, we will continue to work to ensure that such threats against safe travelling on our sea routes are tackled,” said the Rivers governor in a statement issued on Wednesday.